How Long Does it take to Restore?

[Alekzandrea]

I was just wondering how long it actualy takes to restore an iPod (if it depends on size i have an 8G nano)? I've been hanging here waiting for it to restore and I'm nervous there might be something wrong that's making take forever? I just very recently got my iPod so I'm a bit of a n00b. Thanks!

[Jesse Hollington]

Hi and welcome to iLounge.

It shouldn't take more than a few minutes to do the actual restore process, regardless of the size of iPod. In my case it's usually under a minute.

Reloading the iPod will of course take somewhat longer depending on how much content you have, but that occurs after the restore has completed and the iPod has reset (at which point you would get the "New iPod Setup Wizard" in iTunes, as you would when you connected your iPod out-of-the-box).

[Alekzandrea]

Not reloading. Just restoring... It's been going for at least 10-20 minutes. Should I eject it? iTunes wont let me do/click anything while it's restoring, but I could eject it through windows. Could that damage it?

[Edit: Thanks for welcoming me! ]

[Jesse Hollington]

That's definitely far longer than it should be taking.

Disconnecting the iPod will not physically damage the hardware in any way. The only real risk is file system or iPod database corruption, but since you're effectively trying to reformat your iPod anyway, that really doesn't matter in this case.

You can go ahead and disconnect it and try again. I'd also suggest rebooting your computer before trying again as well, just to make sure you're starting with a cleaner configuration.

[Alekzandrea]

Well, I tryed what you suggested reboot and everything. My computer pops up my iPod "drive" when I plug it in, but iTunes does not see my iPod now. So I can't ask it to try to restore again. I tried using ephPod and it kept coming up with "List index error" when ever i try to manipulate anything... my iPod itself shows that there's music and everything on it... Any ideas?

[Jesse Hollington]

If your iPod is showing up in Windows Explorer, I would suggest starting off by doing a basic Windows format on it (right-click the drive and choose "Format"). This will erase everything on it, but should clean up any other errors that may be preventing iTunes from detecting it, or Ephpod coming up with errors.

You should then be able to reconnect it to iTunes to restore it.

You may also want to check out the Apple knowledgebase article iPod shows up in Windows but not in iTunes.

[Alekzandrea]

w00t! iTunes sees it now! The Apple link was quite helpful, as where you, jhollington! Thanks so much for taking the time to help me out!

[thevisibleman]

Originally Posted by Alekzandrea

w00t! iTunes sees it now! The Apple link was quite helpful, as where you, jhollington! Thanks so much for taking the time to help me out!

Hi Alekzandrea,
could you tell me which step actually enabled you to resolve this issue?
I ask because I am experiencing the same problem but am unable to resolve it.
Any help would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks,
Todd

[kamaytu]

I am also experiencing the same problem except that it says that my ipod is corrupted. what should i do? i'll repeat the steps again to make sure that nothing i did was wrong, but i wouldnt know what to do if it doesnt work then

[gulraizkk]

I have this Ipod shuffle....and when i plug it in windows recognises it n there is this message that a usb device is connected...but i dont see anything in my computer..Itunes says that i should restore it using the reset utility...but the reset never ends....i just click on it and it starts and then nothing happens....and when i start the restore...windows gives this sound alert which it gives when a device is disconnected....help...

[03eckerleys]

I have the 8gb ipod nano and it was working last night after i had dissconnected it but today when i came to use it it wouldn't work, i have connected it and the ipod stays blank and the itunes page has been saying restoring for 20 minutes what should i do.

[kristabel]

I had the same problem today with my Classic; I asked for a restore after seeing the message that the iPod might be corrupted when I went to sync it. After three hours I was getting quite nervous as there seemed to be no progress. I actually did a search by "How long does it take to restore an iPod Classic?" and came across the link to this thread.

I simply disconnected the iPod from the USB cable, then closed iTunes (using Task Manager--I'm on Windows XP). I then reset the iPod, hooked the USB back up to it and opened iTunes. The iPod started synching on its own and I have no more errors. Everything looks fine now.

If I hadn't read this thread and decided that the restore was not working, I might still be staring at the "Restoring iPod" and waiting for who knows how long...

Thanks to jhollington--even a couple of years later the advice is still valid!

[meachem4heisman]

ok i have a 16GB nano and i tried to restore it and it was going for over an hour so i disconnected it. i turned my computer off then turned it back on and tried to restore it again. it has now been going for 20 minutes and is still not done. i dont know what to try now.

[Khamroc]

My ipod needs to be reset how do i do it?
I need to take off all the music.
Its locked i cant put music on or take music off.

[SageSepth]

Ok so I have an Ipod 40 GB classic, I got it and plugged it into the wall for a few hours then went and tried to plug it into the computer. Using the front USB ports the computer didn't recognize it, so I moved it to the back ones. Once there it did but I got error 1439 when trying to sync it, so I changed out USB cords and moved it back to the front. I got an error saying it was corrupted and I would need to restore it. So I hit restore and got through *phase 1* went to plug it into the wall and left it there for about 10 minutes.

Restarted my computer and plugged it back in, but now I have this stupid icon on the Ipod screen showing a plug and an outlet but it;s battery was fully charged, is it broken, what the hell?